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Audience 9.3 - Technically the sonic quality here is more likely an 8.9 but this tape gets a MAJOR boost because, quite simply, it’s one of the most incredible, insane, unbelievable things Deep Purple I have ever experienced. Throw away Made In Japan because this here, man, this here folks is pure fucking magic. I will leave it at that. Deep Purple Roundhouse Dagenham, UK 19 February 1972 1. Highway Star (9:19) 2. Strange Kind Of Woman (9:01) 3. No No No (9:08) 4. Child In Time (16:58) 5. The Mule (9:10) Royal Albert Hall London, UK 4 October 1971 6. Lazy (14:10) 7. Fireball (9:36) Jon Lord - Keyboards Ritchie Blackmore - Guitar Ian Paice - Drums Roger Glover - Bassguitar Ian Gillan - Vocals, Congas, Harmonica
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CD 1 & 2 - Audience 8.9 - Very strong presence, taper had great seats and knew how to operate his levels, so, have fun because the band never sounded better! CD 3 & 4 - This show received a nice remastering which helped bring the middle up and cut out a lot of the tape hiss so what you get now is a smoother sound, and good punch in the mids while offering great solid kick drum, vocals, and guitar with keys being placed perfectly in accompaniment. Just get past the first song where taper finds his position and you are good to go.
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Audience 8.4 - I think the draw is, when you are dealing with these old audience tapes that don’t have very wide dynamic range, is that as long as you get a solid guitar, and reasonable vocals, it’s going to appeal to collectors because what they want is the performance mainly – and I tend to agree because this is after all the peak period for the band. You can hear guitar, vocals, and keys in pretty decent clarity and forceful too – I see the value in this recording, a little rough around the edges when band is at full flight due to limitations with the recorder, but let me tell you I hung around, listened to the whole thing, and came away satisfied. It’s not too bad! Palasport, Genova, Italy March 11, 1973
- Intro
- Highway Star
- Smoke On The Water
- Strange Kind Of Woman
- Mary Long
- Keyboard Solo - Lazy
- Drum Solo - The Mule
- Space Truckin'
- Black Night
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Audience 7.3 - 8.0 - Gets better as the show progresses. Let me just say this – I think this show is hotter than the officially released Live album! Maybe because when a band knows they are being recorded, they are less “free” in their playing. I don’t know but this show is off the hook jamming, wish it sounded a little better but even so I am happy to get to hear it.
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Soundboard 9.3 - OK, let me explain why the high rating here. Technically speaking, the actual audio quality is more like 8.8 to be honest…but this tape is so MUCH more than that and deserves a super high rating because of it. Let me explain: First of all, the audio is good enough to get excellent separation of instruments, that allows you to hear the detail of the guitar and drums, with a driving keyboard and clear vocals…and that is important because a certain new vocalist is hoping to impress in front of a London audience – and he does, they ALL do in a major way especially Blackmore. See, Richie is one of those guitarists that really goes for it, and sometimes it works and sometimes he is probably not inspired as much so it falls a little flat…not here! He’s simply brilliant and when I hear him like this I remember to include him on my all time greatest guitarists list ha ha! This rating is for the spectacular event this gig is, and how happy we should be to hear it clearly. DEEP PURPLE Hammermith Odeon, London, May 9, 1974 CD 1: 1. -Burn 2. -Might Just Take Your Life 3. -Lay Down Stay Down 4. -Mistreated 5. -Smoke On The Water CD 2 1. -Space Truckin’ 2. -Going Down 3. -Richie Blackmore interview David Coverdale - vocals Ritchie Blackmore - guitar Jon Lord - keyboards Glen Hughes - bass Ian Paice - drums
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Audience 8.9 - This is one helluva nice find! First of all, it was new to me to begin with, but the kicker is that it is just great, and a furious show with outstanding performances by everyone. You simply cannot call yourself a fan and not be interested in a great sounding ’73 tape like this. Get it! DEEP PURPLE Long Beach Arena Long Beach CA. April 15th 1973 THE BAND Jon Lord keyboards Ritchie Blackmore guitar Ian Gillan vocals Harmonica Ian Paice drums Roger Glover bass SETLIST 1 -Intro 2 -Highway Star 3 -Smoke On The Water 4 -Strange Kind Of Woman 5 -God Save The Queen Intro - Mary Long 6 -Jon Lord Solo 7 -Lazy 8 -Ian Paice Solo 9 -The Mule 10 -Space Truckin 11 -Crowd we want more 12 -Announcer
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Audience 7.7 - This sounds way better than I remember it from years ago, not to say it is marvelous, but what I can tell you is that Ian and Jon are absolute beasts here, the intensity is off the charts folks. Because of where the sound spectrum is (focuses on vocals and keys) you get the idea maybe you won’t hear Ritchie but when he solos the guitar is riding the top of everything which is a relief. So, all in all a spectacular show, mediocre recording that sounds better than it ever has. I consider this along with the Hiroshima gig of the same year to be essential for real fans due to the insane levels of intensity present.
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Soundboard 9.5 - So I haven’t kept up with this band since Steve Morse joined. I’ve always loved them, but they just fell off my radar. It was with great pleasure that I reacquainted myself with them as I reviewed this show. It’s multi-layered, multi-dimensional music with some resemblance to the old band if Ritchie traded places with his Southern fried twin brother! I mean, it works, don’t get me wrong – but it can fool you because it’s not Ritchie’s band by any stretch. I like this one maybe a little better to be honest. This is a “deeper” Deep Purple actually, and the orchestra behind them makes it that much more interesting, if sometimes a little bit “cabaret” but it still rocks when it has to and the guitar work by Morse is impeccable. Spektrum Arena, Oslo, Norway December 13th, 2011 Featuring Neue Philharmonie Orchestra Disc 1
- Orchestra Intro
- Highway Star
- Hard Lovin' Man
- Maybe I'm A Leo
- Strange Kind Of Woman
- Rapture Of The Deep
- Woman From Tokyo
- Contact Lost - Steve Morse Solo
- When A Blind Man Cries
- The Well Dressed Guitar
- The Mule (w/Ian Paice Solo)
- Lazy
- No One Came
- Don Airey Solo
- Perfect Strangers
- Space Truckin'
- Smoke On The Water
- Going Down
- Hush
- Bass Solo
- Black Night